Ware sex offender allegedly tried to lure teen for porn

EAST BROOKFIELD — A Level 3 sex offender who allegedly tried to entice a 17-year-old farm stand worker into making pornographic movies is being held without bail until a dangerousness hearing is held on whether it is safe to release him.

Ronald A. Ballard, 55, of 183 Upper Church St., Ware, was charged with threatening to commit murder, accosting or annoying a person of the opposite sex and intimidation of a witness. Investigators said he went to a farm stand on Route 9 in Spencer, not far from the police station, on July 29 and hung around there for more than an hour.

During that time he allegedly showed a 17-year-old worker there pornographic images of the "girls" he said work for him and encouraged her to do the same.

The teenager told police she was at her family's farm stand about 5:30 p.m. that Monday by herself and her cellphone was not charged. Mr. Ballard came by, asked about the corn that was for sale and told her she was cute.

The girl wrote that Mr. Ballard quickly turned the conversation to exotic dancing and asked whether she might be interested in doing "private shows" where she could be paid as much as $2,000 for engaging in sexual relations with some of his customers. He allegedly told her he has other girls named Rebecca, Candy, Lezzi and Liz working for him and that his girlfriend, Amy, dances as well.

The teen said she became concerned when he threatened her.

"He was in my face looking at me eye to eye and said if I screw him over he would hang me by my toes off a bridge," she wrote, adding that he assured her if anyone tried to hurt her he would "have no problem putting a gun to the side of someone's head."

Mr. Ballard also allegedly took photographs of the teen despite her protests and gave her a bag of marijuana, which she wrote that she threw away. She wrote that he told her he had been watching her and checking her arms for needle tracks to see if she used drugs.

"I was so scared that he was going to throw me in his truck," she wrote.

When Mr. Ballard left, one of the teen's friends came by and she told him what had happened. He flagged down Officer Christopher Inzerillo, who used a business card from Architectural Painting the man had given the teen to track down Mr. Ballard. The company is based in Worcester, and an entry in Mr. Ballard's sex offender registry listing says he works in the city at 39 Mason St.

When police questioned him, he said the girl had asked him about becoming a stripper.

In his report, Officer Inzerillo wrote that Mr. Ballard has a criminal record in Massachusetts for unnatural rape, aggravated rape, threatening and assault and battery. He was once convicted in California of rape by force: sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Records show that in 2005, Mr. Ballard, who then lived in North Brookfield, was ordered committed to the Massachusetts Center for the Sexually Dangerous for one day to life after a judge found he was a sexually dangerous person.

Mr. Ballard was arraigned Friday in Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield on the charges and a dangerousness hearing is set for Thursday.

Contact Kim Ring at kring@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimmring